(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photosensitive composition suitable for the use in the preparation of a photosensitive lithographic plate. More particularly, the invention relates to a new photosensitive composition containing a photo-crosslinkable polymer and having an improved adhesion to the support.
(2) Prior Art
Photo-crosslinkable materials which are crosslinked by a ring-addition reaction are well known. They are used frequently as a principal component of photosensitive compositions used in the preparation of photosensitive lithographic plates, etc. Among these crosslinkable materials, photo-crosslinkable polymers having maleimido group(s) in a side chain thereof have not been used practically, even though they have high sensitivity and are useful as a photoresist, since the adhesion thereof to the support or to another layer is unsatisfactory. More particularly, when a photosensitive composition containing a photo-crosslinkable polymer having maleimido group(s) in a side chain thereof is prepared and used in the production of a lithographic plate, a peeling off of the image-areas occurs in the course of printing making the production of large numbers of prints impossible and the sensitivity thereof on the gray scale is low.